Hopple



. (NoModeL) W. H. WESTEN. -HOP PLE.

No. 487,863. Patented Dec. 13, 1892.

Q QHmeooeo moan do UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HENRY IVESTEN, OF TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN.

HOPPLE.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 487,863, dated December 13, 1892.

Application filed March 8, 1892. Serial No. $24,116. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM HENRY WES- TEN, a citizen of the United States, residingat Traverse City, in the county of Gran d'Traverse and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Preventing the Scratching of Fowls; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide a device which will be capable of preventing chickens from scratching; and for this purpose it consists of a suitable piece of material provided with rearwardly-extending points and having means whereby it maybe loosely secured to the leg of the fowl, thus permitting it to be dragged over the ground upon a forward movement of the latter, but whereby upon a rearward movement of the leg of the fowl for the purpose of scratching, the points of the piece will engage the ground, forcing the chicken forward.

For these purposes my invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts of which it is composed, as will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated by similar numerals, Figure 1 is a plan view of a device constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig.2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof.

The device consists of two principal parts, the blade 1 and attaching-ring 2. The blade 1 consists of a single elongated curved piece of thin metal, the convex side thereof being up and the rear end being sharpened, as at 3. The opposite end of the blade is bent upward and forward, then downward and rearward, forming an eye 6, and then downward, forming a bridge 4, the lower edge of which is bifurcated, as at 5. A ring 2 passes through the eye 6 and is adapted to be caught over the leg of the fowl.

Such being the construction of my device, the method of its use is as follows: The ring 2 is clipped on the leg of the fowl over the blade 1, trailing behind, the bridge 4 holding the eye 3 a sufficient distance from the ground to prevent the ring 2 from falling off the leg. At the same time the curved shape of the blade, taken in connection with one end thereof, being raised, causes the point 3 to point downwardly toward the ground, upon which it rests, the elevated portion of the blade passing over any small obstructions that may exist-such as pebbles, sticks, &c. It will now be evident that a rearward movement of the fowls leg will be resisted by the point 3 taking into the ground, forcingthe fowl forward, and it will thus be seen that the device will prevent the fowl scratching,while at the same timeit ofiers no hinderance to a forward movement of it. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is As a device for preventing fowls from scratching, the hereinbefore-described blade, having the rear end thereof pointed and having upon the lower surface of its forward end a bridge 4, in combination with means for securing the said blade to the leg of the fowl, as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM HENRY WESTEN.

Witnesses:

S. M. BROWN, CHAS. L. Conn. 

